First time HOTAS, which one?

[mambo1888]

Alrighty folks, as there are a few flying sims out there I thought I should probably add one of these to my setup. After playing a driving sim with a steering wheel and VR headset there is no going back to controller, so I presume a hotas will be similar for flying sims.

Ive never used one before and was wondering if would worth getting a cheaper one to start with to see how it feels or just get a decent one straight away. Im not a major flight sim player but id like to keep trying them as they are great in VR.

Ive picked out these 3 to see what your thoughts are...

Thrustmaster T-Flight £32.99 Would this give me enough of a feel to see if its worth putting in another £100-200?

Saitek X52 Pro £129.99 Looks solid and the middle ground of the two

Saitek X56 Rhino £219.99 Looks an absolute beast but is it aimed more at serious flight simmers? (Released in about a week)

Any advice?

[Zandil]

I have the Thrustmaster T.Flight, it's cheaper by a mile, has separate Throttle and stick with plenty of buttons which are programmable, you can adjust the stick sensitivity but not the throttles.  Great cheap setup for a early entry to get the feel of what you like and they are robust, had mine 2 years now with no issues. 

If you don't like it better to waste 32 bucks then hundreds on your first HOTAS.

[mambo1888]

Zandil said:

I have the Thrustmaster T.Flight, it's cheaper by a mile, has separate Throttle and stick with plenty of buttons which are programmable, you can adjust the stick sensitivity but not the throttles.  Great cheap setup for a early entry to get the feel of what you like and they are robust, had mine 2 years now with no issues. 

If you don't like it better to waste 32 bucks then hundreds on your first HOTAS.

Yeah that was my thinking, the only thing that put me off is the all in one set up as id prefer to have one either side of rather than both in the middle, does that break the immersion a little for you, or do find it works fine? 

I guess if you have had yours for 2 years your more than happy with it. Wish I could try some out first, not sure of any shops in the UK that will have them out on display or even sell in store.

[Uberwolfe]

Yep fully agree with @Zandil here. I know quite a few people with the T.Flight and they love them.

If you find yourself needing something more serious, the Saitek options are good - but it's totally worth putting down the extra money on the TM Warthog. Hands down (no pun intended) It is the most incredible controller I have ever owned.

http://www.thrustmaster.com/products/hotas-warthog

[Zandil]

The T.Flight breaks in Half
with a cord between them which can run under your keyboard

[Zandil]

The cord between the Stick and throttle is long enough to have them either side of my Logitech G105 keyboard, you won't get much more length out of it then that.

[mambo1888]

Uberwolfe said:

Yep fully agree with @Zandil here. I know quite a few people with the T.Flight and they love them.

If you find yourself needing something more serious, the Saitek options are good - but it's totally worth putting down the extra money on the TM Warthog. Hands down (no pun intended) It is the most incredible controller I have ever owned.

http://www.thrustmaster.com/products/hotas-warthog

Thanks mate, yeah id looked at the Warthog too but im very much a casual gamer especially when it comes to flight sims which I haven't really spent much time with and when the price starts going up those figures (rhino/warthog) I find myself wondering if my money would be better spent on something like the Roto Chair 

Zandil said:

The T.Flight breaks in Half
with a cord between them which can run under your keyboard

Thats great mate, think thats just made my mind up :smile: 

[edmg]

I bought the T-Flight when it was on sale recently, and my only complaints are that the deadband in the middle is a bit too large--I have to move the stick some distance from the centre before the game recognizes it's not centred any more--and it doesn't have enough buttons to put all the important functions on there. Other than that, it seems a good choice for a casual flight sim player like me.

[Uberwolfe]

edmg said:

I bought the T-Flight when it was on sale recently, and my only complaints are that the deadband in the middle is a bit too large--I have to move the stick some distance from the centre before the game recognizes it's not centred any more--and it doesn't have enough buttons to put all the important functions on there. Other than that, it seems a good choice for a casual flight sim player like me.

Can you not adjust that dead zone in the settings?

[kzintzi]

I had an X52 Pro years ago and it was a great unit right up until it died... I recently bought a CH Throttle and CH Fighterstick and they are absolutely awesome.. I did a bunch of research and picked them mainly coz they've been making industrial joysticks for years so they're used to designing for high usage environments and people treating them like hammers and stuff..

the linear throttle is really nice as you're not rotating your wrist around a pivot which feels less RSI'ey... plus it has an analogue joystick under my left thumb that makes thrusters awesome in Elite..

the joystick doesn't have the usual central ball and socket type arrangement which looks like it'd be unweildy but I haven't had any issues with it.

they're not cheap relatively speaking but I love it.. I was giggling like a schoolgirl the first time I used the lateral thrusters in conjunction with yaw and pitch to line up on the docking port on a rotating space station.

if you can afford it, the pedals make it a seamless whole. haven't worked out what to use the toebrakes for yet - I'm not a flight sim guy so I'm thinking they'll just be ankle relief.